For Pearl Harbor Day, we juxtapose galvanizing responses to World War II by Dmitri Shostakovich, Arnold Schoenberg, and Hanns Eisler. With the Cathedral Choir and members of PCE conducted by Michael McCarthy and Angel Gil-Ordonez.

For Black History Month, we celebrate Harry Burleigh, who turned spirituals into art songs. With bass-baritone Kevin Deas, the Cathedral Choir, and 100 high school choristers conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez.

Only in recent decades has it become known that the CIA covertly funded a cultural Cold War. A frequent target was Shostakovitch, portrayed as a Soviet stooge. Meanwhile, JFK gave speeches insisting that the arts can only flourish in “free societies.”